Court for restricting trade union membership to employees

Asks government to amend relevant Acts to keep out outsiders

The Madras High Court has asked the government to amend provisions of the Trade Unions Act and the Industrial Disputes Act to prevent outsiders from being representatives or officer-bearers of the trade union of any establishment.

Justice N. Kirubakaran suggested this in his order restraining the Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai, from permitting two retired employees, L. Balasubramanian and S. Srinivasan, as president and secretary of the IOB Employees’ Union, to represent the employees in negotiations and discussions with the bank management.

Originally, S. Valaiyapathy, an employee, approached the court to prevent the retired employees from participating in the negotiation and discussions with the management. Disposing of the petition filed by Mr. Valaiyapathy, Mr. Justice Kirubakaran said, “The bank is a credit institution and cannot deal with an outsider who is not bound by any declaration of secrecy.”